


It’s been a day; it’s felt like an age

by lovesnarf (snarfette)



Series: For the Ages [2]
Category: Victoria (TV)
Genre: Drumfred, Fix-it fic, Lord Alfred Paget/Edward Drummond - Freeform, M/M, Modern AU, No Character Death, a bit of angst, but still a gunshot wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 07:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12452457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarfette/pseuds/lovesnarf
Summary: A stupid argument and a near-miss make Alfred realise that he can't be without Edward Drummond. (Fix-it fic, Modern AU)





	It’s been a day; it’s felt like an age

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a week since that heart-breaking final episode of Victoria's second series, so here's my contribution to the fix-it fics. It's a modern AU and there is definitely, absolutely, 100% no character death! 
> 
> Title from You Me At Six, 'Give'. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy - please let me know what you thought.

'I'm sorry about last night. I want to talk properly. Meet me for dinner so I can make it up to you? Your favourite place. Usual time.'

Alfred had sent the message almost as soon as he'd woken up, eyes sore due to lack of sleep. He'd had a terrible night of tossing and turning, and staring up at his ceiling cursing himself for being so stubborn and stupid.

The argument had been one that had been brewing for a few weeks, but it had finally erupted last night as Edward had wearily arrived at Alfred's flat after yet another long day at work. His position as Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister Robert Peel kept him busy at the best of times, but recently his days had been longer, his workload had increased, and his time to spend with his boyfriend had decreased to reflect that. There had been an underlying tension building between them as Alfred's frustrations grew alongside Edward's fatigue. Something had been bound to give; it had last night as Edward let himself in, looking exhausted and ready for nothing more than sleep.

When Edward had announced that he had 'a few emails' to send, mere minutes after greeting Alfred with a brief peck on his cheek and a distracted, tired look in his eyes, Alfred had snapped.

The argument had escalated quickly, both of them feeling on edge and not knowing how to deal with it calmly. Edward's exhaustion had left him irritable: Alfred's frustrations at feeling neglected had made him irrationally annoyed.

"What would you like me to do, Alfred?" Edward had asked, as he had ran his fingers through his hair. It had left it mussed, the waves loosened from the styling product holding them in place, and on any other occasion Alfred would have smiled softly at how adorable it made him look and then pounced on him to drag him off to bed, but it hadn't been the time for that.

"Maybe you should remember that you have a life outside of the Prime Minister's office," Alfred had replied angrily.

Letting out a bitter laugh, Edward had replied, "Of course. Don't worry, I'll tell the Prime Minister that I won't be doing any work because my boyfriend has thrown a tantrum. I'm sure he'll be fine with that. That policy we're desperately trying to push through to help families living in poverty? Don't worry about that!" he had said sarcastically as he waved his hand through the air as though pushing the idea aside. "I'll tell Peel that those families will just have to suck it up while I pander to you."

Alfred had actually scoffed at the words. "Don't be so ridiculous. That's not fair. You know that's not what I'm asking, but I've hardly seen you for weeks, and when I do see you, you're so tired we don't get to spend any proper time together."

Softening slightly, Edward had sighed deeply. "It's not always going to be like this. If all goes well, we'll have the policy passed by the end of the week. You know how important my job is."

Alfred hadn't been able to help it; the anger he felt hadn't subsided enough and the words just slipped out. "More important than me, obviously."

Edward's nostrils had flared and the anger had flashed across his face. "Not everyone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, you know."

Alfred had sucked in a sharp breath at the words. He had known that he was coming across as spoilt, but maybe that was his problem. Maybe he was too selfish. Maybe he just wanted Edward all to himself. Maybe he was holding back the man before him, who had so much potential, such a wonderful career ahead of him, instead of encouraging him the way he should.

"Maybe..." he'd trailed off and struggled to find the right words. He'd swallowed past the lump in his throat. "Maybe...this isn't what you want anymore. You have this amazing career ahead of you: you're going to do wonderful things in the government. Maybe I'm not meant to be at your side for that."

"What?" Edward had gasped. His eyes had been wide and looked like they were filling with tears. He'd shaken his head angrily and scrubbed at his face. "If you want to walk away from what we have at the first sign of a real problem, _you_ can take credit for that decision. I won't let you blame my job for your inability to try." He'd turned abruptly after he'd finished speaking and stormed out of Alfred's apartment, slamming the door on his way, without giving Alfred a chance to say anything more.

Alfred had been pinned to the spot by the words, wondering how the conversation had taken such a drastic turn and immediately starting to doubt himself. It had felt an awful lot like he'd just made a rather foolish mistake.

As the night had gone on, that niggling doubt had been confirmed as he replayed the conversation over and over and came to the realisation that he had most definitely acted like an idiot. He'd opened his mouth before he'd engaged his brain, and Edward's hurt expression wouldn't leave his memory. He shouldn't have said those things; he shouldn't have added pressure to Edward when all he really needed was the support of his boyfriend.

He hadn't tried to call Edward. Partly because he knew the other man would want some space to calm down, and partly because his own pride had been hurt. Edward had known exactly where to strike with his words and using Alfred's privileged upbringing was a low-blow. He knew how difficult it had been for Alfred to come out to his parents, his father in particular, who had threatened to cut him off if he continued with such a ridiculous notion as 'claiming to be gay'. It had taken years, but things had finally settled down, his father had finally accepted that his son wasn't just 'experimenting', and he and Edward had even been invited for family meals. Of course, the topic of politics was completely avoided at such gatherings because Edward could never have sat quietly and listened to Alfred's father go on about 'poor people'.

So, he hadn't made contact with Edward because while he knew he was most at fault, he also wanted Edward to think about what they'd both said and realise he too was in the wrong.

However, by the morning, his resolve had been broken and he'd had to text Edward to arrange a meeting over dinner. He couldn't allow this wound to fester. He couldn't stand another evening away from Edward, knowing they were angry at one another and both hurting.

"Never go to sleep on an argument," his mother had always said, and Alfred could see the wisdom in her words. And while he'd allowed a whole night to pass by without attempting to fix the problem, he wasn't willing to wait any more.

A reply hadn't come from Edward until nearly lunchtime. 'I'm sorry too. I'll see you tonight.'

Alfred had allowed himself a smile at the simple text. His stomach had been doing flips all morning while he'd waited for a response. Hopefully everything would be alright now.

Debating whether it was pushing his luck, he decided to just go for it and sent another text: 'I'll order the oysters ;)'

Edward had merely sent back the eye-rolling emoji and suddenly Alfred had felt lighter than he had since last night.

***

Alfred was sitting at their usual table, tapping his foot against the floor somewhat impatiently. It was nearly half past eight and they'd arranged to meet at eight so it wasn't exactly the best of starts to their reconciliation. He tried to remind himself not to get annoyed by it but wasn't this the problem in the first place, that he felt like he was second in Edward's list of priorities?

He sighed as he took another sip of his drink and scanned the restaurant. He pulled his phone from his pocket to check if he'd missed some communication from his boyfriend, but his heart stuttered when he lit up his lock screen to see a news alert from his BBC news app.

'Man arrested for attempted murder of Prime Minister, Robert Peel. PM safe. Member of party injured by suspected gunshot wound.'

His stomach did some strange swoop and his heart rate soared. His hands were trembling as he unlocked his phone and scanned the full article, desperate for some mention or photograph of Edward showing that he was safe and sound. The article didn't give him any details of who was injured or how badly, but someone close to the Prime Minister had been rushed to hospital and the PM himself had been bundled into a car and driven away from the scene immediately.

With his hands still trembling, Alfred found Edward's number and called him. The phone rang and rang, until it reached his voicemail message. Alfred pushed himself out of his seat on unsteady legs and rushed from the restaurant. He didn't know what to do, who to call, where to go. All he could think was that he needed to find Edward: he needed to be with him.

***

It had taken a lot of phone calls, a lot of giving out his name and relationship to Edward Drummond and a lot of questions, but eventually Alfred had found out that Edward had indeed been injured in an attack against the Prime Minister. He had nearly dropped his phone upon hearing the confirmation but his desperate need to find out where Edward was and get to him as quickly as possible had given him the strength to hold on.

He knew no details of what had occurred, but he had finally found out which hospital Edward had been taken to. He burst through the doors of the A&E department and desperately scanned the waiting room for any sign of his boyfriend or anyone he knew that worked with Edward. There was no-one, so he rushed to the desk.

“Drummond,” he announced to the woman behind the desk, before realising she might need further information to actually help him. “I’m looking for Edward Drummond,” he tried again, tried to keep calm, but his mind kept showing him terrible images. “He was brought in earlier this evening with a gunshot wound.”

The receptionist eyed him for a moment as though trying to decide what to tell him.

“He’s my boyfriend,” Alfred continued. “Please. Please tell me where I can find him.” His voice cracked a little as he spoke, the strain of the last hour or so starting to show.

The woman seemed to take pity on him. She turned to look at the board behind her, seemingly a mass of confusing scribble to the untrained eye. “He’s being treated in room 17,” she told him. “Down the corridor and it’s on the right.” She pointed, but Alfred was already hurrying away from her. He remembered to call a quick ‘thank you’ over his shoulder as he rushed away.

When he reached the room, there seemed to be a lot of commotion outside. As well as hospital staff, there were armed police, and some of the Prime Minister’s security detail standing around. He moved forwards only to be stopped by a police officer. “Excuse me, sir, but you aren’t allowed in this area.”

Alfred had got this far and he wasn’t about to be prevented from reaching his boyfriend by anyone regardless of whether they were holding a gun or not. “My boyfriend is in that room and he’s been shot!” Alfred declared. “And you will not stop me from seeing him.”

The officer raised his eyebrows at him and for a moment Alfred thought he was about to be arrested. Well he was going to fight them all off if he had to - he was getting into that room. He had no idea what state Edward was in but he needed to be with him.

“Alfred?” a voice from behind the officer said.

“Oh, thank God,” Alfred replied, grateful to see someone he recognised. Wilhelmina, one of Peel’s assistants, rushed towards him and pulled him into a hug.

“It’s fine,” she waved her hand at the stern looking security and police officers hovering nearby. “He’s Drummond’s family.”

Her words caused something to tighten in Alfred’s chest: he needed to see Edward right now.

“I’m so pleased you’re here,” Wilhelmina continued. “I didn’t know if you’d find out what had happened and I didn’t have your number. Drummond had said that he was meeting you for dinner and I was so worried that you’d be sitting there waiting for him thinking that he’d stood you up or something.”

As much as Alfred appreciated her concern, he was more interested in actually seeing his boyfriend and finding out what had happened to him, how seriously hurt he was. He just wanted Edward.  
“Wil,” he said cutting her off. “How is he? Can I go in?”

“Oh yes, of course you want to see him. I haven’t been in as they wanted to wait for family to arrive. The doctors haven’t told us much. We’ve just been waiting out here. You’ll be able to go in seeing as you’re his partner.”

Alfred actually gulped at her words. He needed to see Edward but he was also terrified of what he would find inside that room. He drew in a deep breath to compose himself and then pushed the door open and entered the room.

Edward was lying on the bed in the centre of the room, his head turned to face the doctor who was talking to him. He was shirtless, a large white bandage tightly wrapped around the top of his left arm. His skin was pale but there were still a few smears of dried blood across his chest and around the bandaged area.

Alfred released a sigh of sheer relief. Edward was alive, hurt yes, but breathing and able to talk and _alive_. He’d been so afraid of finding something so much worse when he eventually reached Edward. The sound must have alerted Edward to his presence because he slowly turned his head towards where Alfred was still standing near the door. He was almost afraid to move any closer. What if this was all a dream and his movement shattered everything he was seeing and left behind Edward lying still, with a massive hole in his chest. He shuddered at the very thought of it.

“Alfred?” Edward whispered. His voice sounded so hoarse that Alfred was woken from his trance. He rushed forwards to the beside, the doctor disappearing towards the door to give them some privacy.

“Edward,” he breathed. “Oh God, I...I was so scared when I heard what had happened. I thought...I thought...” he choked as a sob tried to force itself out of his throat. He took Edward’s right hand and squeezed tightly, finally allowing tears to slip from his eyes as he looked down at their linked hands.

“Hey,” Edward said quietly. “I’m alright, you know.”

Alfred let out a tiny wet laugh. “Oh yes, you look alright,” he said sarcastically as he looked up at his boyfriend. “You got shot!”

“In the arm,” Edward told him. “I’ll survive.”

Alfred knew him too well. He knew that Edward was trying to put on a brave face for him. “You don’t have to do that with me,” he said gently and smiled slightly at him. “What happened?”

Edward sighed heavily and then winced a little. “As we came out of our meeting, some crazy bloke burst out of the crowd and took aim at Peel. There was no time to do anything except push him out of the way, but as we fell onto the floor, the bullet caught me in the arm. Everything after that is a bit of a blur to be honest.”

“You’re a hero,” Alfred tried to smile at him. It was still hard to accept that this had happened. The end result of Edward’s sacrifice and bravery could have been so different.

Edward squeezed his hand. “I kept thinking that you’d be waiting for me at dinner.”

“Don’t,” Alfred forced out, feeling tears welling in his eyes again. He shook his head slightly. “If you...if you’d been more seriously hurt, or worse, I’d never have had the chance to tell you how sorry I was about last night. I was selfish and I shouldn’t have said those things. I want to be by your side, always - of course I do. I love you.”

Edward smiled gently at him. “I love you, too. I was an idiot last night and I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. I’m sorry too. You know I have a lot to deal with at work, but I always come home to you. That’s the most important thing to me, I promise you that. You’re the most important thing in my world.”

Alfred smiled at him. He leant down and pressed a kiss to his forehead, stroking his fingers through Edward’s hair as he did so.

“You know, you could have just asked Peel for a few days off. You didn’t need to go to such extreme measures,” he whispered as he gazed into his boyfriend’s eyes.

Edward let out a soft laugh. “You’re an idiot,” he said with a smile. “Now, please kiss me - I’ve missed you.”

Alfred didn’t need any further instruction. He leant forwards and brushed his lips against Edward’s. His hand cupped the side of his face gently.

“The oysters will have to wait until you’re recovered,” he said as he pulled back slightly with a cheeky smile on his face.

Edward rolled his eyes playfully. “I’m sure we can order some in,” he replied. Smiling into the kiss when Alfred leant back down.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love some feedback so please comment/leave kudos.


End file.
